Assaults on 11 staff members at Portlaoise prisons in 2025
Irish Prison Service staff are dealing with overcrowding and contraband at the Midlands and Portlaoise Prisons
As overcrowding continues in both Portlaoise and the Midlands Prison, the Irish Prison Service revealed 11 of its staff were assaulted at the prisons last year.
The IPS figures from 2024 and 2025 show a further two staff were subjected to threats or aggression and there were 21 ‘physical interventions’ where the IPS says, “inadvertent or unintentional striking of a staff member or injury to a prisoner occurs in the course of a planned physical intervention or spontaneous physical intervention” occurred.
Portlaoise Prison is operating at 136% bed capacity today with 307 prisoners and a bed capacity for 226. In the Midlands Prison, there are 1,130 prisoners but the facility has a capacity for 891 and is operating at 127%. The situation is creating difficulties for staff and leading to tensions in the prisons.
In 2025, there were 102 prisoner on prisoner assaults at the Midlands Prison and 35 prisoner on prisoner assaults in Portlaoise Prison.
The situation is being exacerbated by the levels of contraband in the two prisons where mobile phones, drugs and weapons continue to be found.
The IPS said “any act of violence against prison staff is unacceptable. Any criminal act carried out within our prisons, including an assault on a staff member, will be reported to An Gardaí Síochána for investigation and prosecution,”
They said it is also vitally important that staff who are subject to an act of violence or who witness incidents in the prisons are given the necessary support afterwards.
The IPS noted that the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 specifically provides for assaults or threats to peace officers including prison officers acting in the execution of their duty and the maximum sentence for assaults or threats to assault had been inrcreased from seven to 12 years in 2023. They said all employees have access to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), with three full-time national Employee Assistance Officers.
The IPS said it is committed to preventing the access of contraband into prisons and this continues to be a high priority for the prison service. They said there is a commitment to invest in new technologies and measures to keep contraband out of prisons.
“The Irish Prison Service continues to have high level engagement and the sharing of intelligence with An Garda Síochána on a regular basis which is resulting in the seizure of contraband, arrests and significant disruption to organised crime involved in smuggling contraband into Irish Prisons,” they stated.
They explained that Gardaí continue to support the Irish Prison Service operationally with ongoing operations in each relevant Garda Division, including Operation Throwover which is supporting prisons nationwide. “Operations such as Operation Throwover are intended to disrupt, interdict and prosecute attempts to introduce contraband into prisons,” the IPS stated.
“Prison staff have increased the use of random and intelligence led cell searches on a daily basis. Our Canine Unit carry out searches around the prisons, including a greater focus on searching deliveries into prisons,” they said.
A free confidential telephone line (1800 855 717) and text line (086 180 2449) is also operational. “Prisoners, visitors, staff or members of the public with information on the trafficking of prohibited items into our prisons can pass on that information in the strictest confidence,” they concluded.